IMPOSSIBLE JONES #2 – Review

IMPOSSIBLE JONES #2, from Scout Comics on December 22nd, 2021, continues the origin story of the world’s least heroic superhero as Jones begins to discover the extent of her newfound powers while she tries to find out who tried to kill her.

The Details

• Written By: Karl Kesel
• Art By: Karl Kesel, David Hahn
• Colors By: Tony Aviña
• Letters By: Comicraft
• Cover Art By: Karl Kesel, David Hahn, Tony Aviña
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: December 22, 2021

Wait! Don’t Forget To Sign Up For The Comical Opinions Newsletter.

Was It Good?

IMPOSSIBLE JONES #2 is 50% good. In total, the issue works to further Impossible Jones’s origin story and help readers get a handle on her powers and motivations. The 50% that doesn’t quite work is a disconnect between the writing and the art, mostly in the front half of the issue.

Focusing on the positives – we pick up from the cliffhanger of the first issue released way back in September of 2021. Jones doesn’t understand what’s happened to her or what she can do, and we get a fairly organic series of events where Jones finds out she has an assortment of powers. There’s no rule book to what’s happened to her, so she’s forced to figure things out as she goes. Using an escape scenario where she’s on the run from security forces is a perfect way to do that. And being a master thief, Jones adapts quickly to her abilities, figuring out ways to use them to her advantage.

Before getting to the down point, the art is still very good. There’s a bright, clean, Silver Age style to the art. Colors pop, the lines are clean, and the action is big with a slight hint of silliness. Visually, it’s a fun comic.

The down point is a strange separation between the art and the writing in the first half of the book. There’s a lot… a LOT… of thought bubbles (using caption boxes) going on where Jones is essentially narrating her actions, making punny jokes to herself, and generally just rambling. For example, Jones is swimming to the far side of a river and she makes quips to herself in first person narration that she’s swimming to the far side of the river. The description is unnecessary, the whole thought is unnecessary, and it feels unnatural for somebody to quip to themselves in the middle of a chase.

It feels like the writing doesn’t trust the art to tell the story, so the narration is over-talking the art to explain what’s happening. It would have served the comic better for the writer to trust the audience gets what’s happening from the art.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

It’s been a while since the last issue, so if you need a refresher, check out our IMPOSSIBLE JONES #1 review.

We pick up with a confused Jones trying to understand what’s happened to her. Who shoved her in the lab containment unit, leaving her for dead? Who tried to kill her? What happened to her hair? Why does she feel so strange?

However, there’s no time to think as Arcana Tech security forces have arrived to investigate the explosion, and Jones frantically moves from one obstacle to the next to escape. Every guard and dead end she encounters reveals a surprise as her body “adapts” to the situation by unveiling a new power. At first glance, she appears to be an analog to Plastic Man, but new powers emerge to demonstrate powers beyond the physical.

After she makes an impossible (*ahem*) escape, Jones seeks out members of the crew who were either in on her murder attempt or left her for dead to find out who’s behind it all. We conclude the issue with the discovery that Jones’s invulnerability has limits and a hint about who gave her kill order.

Final Thoughts

IMPOSSIBLE JONES #2 continues a well thought out, organic origin story for the world’s least heroic and unlikeliest superhero. Jones’s discovery of her newfound powers feels organic and is integrated into the action well, and the art pops in a classic, Silver Age way. That said, the narration goes overboard in the first half by explaining nearly every panel, creating a disconnect between the art and the narration that quickly becomes tedious.

Score: 7/10

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.